CIM Tutorial > CIM > Overview > Meta Schema > Schema

CIM Meta Schema - Schema

A Schema is a group of classes with a single owner. Schemas are used for administration and class naming. Class names must be unique within their owning schemas. Each class name includes the schema name and follows this format:

Schemaname_classname

The rules for schema names are as follows:

1. "CIM" and "PRS" are reserved schema names and MUST NOT be used by any company/organization other than the DMTF.

2. The schema name MUST be unique and MUST begin with an alphabetic character. We recommend the use one of the following methods to assure uniqueness:

   1. Use a trademark registered by your company eliminating any "dot" characters from the trademark, and use the result as your schema name.
      Examples: mycompanyname_ or myproductname_

   2. Make use of your company or organization's registered DNS entry:

      • Use the rightmost elements of your company or organization registered DNS address up to and including your company or organization name
      • move any elements to the right of your company or organization name to the left of that name
      • eliminate all "dot" characters
      • use the result as a prefix to your schema name

      Examples:
      companyname.com comcompanyname
      company.com.de comdecompany
      pickastate.state.gov stategovpickastate

   3. Use another unique name that you can assure is unique.